A Bad Hand
by Der Blaue Wolf
Summary: Rin and Asa have been a happy couple for four years now, but when the cards are set to play, everyone's fate is to be determined by a round of bridge, immortal style. And when you play with fates, thing often turn out badly. COMPLETED now with a sequal.
1. Our Starting Hands

A/N: you will have to bear with me for updates of this, as I'm already working to a tight schedule with my other stories.

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Shuffle! and I don't think anyone owns shuffling.

Note: "Implies speech" while 'Implies thoughts' or noises such as 'Thud'

A Bad Hand, Ch1: Our Starting Hands

Asa stirred in her bed, feeling something warm next to her. She knew what it was, she had felt the same warm thing every morning for the past two years, since she had moved into a flat with it. She looked up at the clock on the bedside table: 8:37, about an hour too early for her and the warm thing next to her. But then the warm thing started to move too, and it yawned, then it turned to face her, "Morning Asa."

"Morning... _yawn..._ Rin."

-----

It had been four years since Rin had confessed to Asa, four years since they stood atop that outlook and kissed for the first time, four years since she was dying in hospital, four years since Rin put everything on the line to save her. Neither they, nor any of their friends ever spoke of what had happened on the night they both nearly lost their lives, and there was no need to do so, it was all in the distant past, it did not need bringing up now. Since then, the couple had gone to the same college, after much late night studying and many cramming sessions from Rin. It had been hard work but since yesterday, their life at college was over. They had both made it through that particular four years, and had come out of them relatively well. Soon, they would be heading back to their hometown, to see all their old friends once again.

-----

An hour later, Asa had managed to drag herself out of bed to have a shower before breakfast, while Rin was still half-asleep in the bed. As she turned the water on and let it wash over her, she thought over the past few years. They had been very busy over that time, they had barely seen their friends since high-school. The last time that they had seen any of them was when Sia and Nerine's fathers had business nearby, and they had brought their daughters, Kaede and Primula with them to visit, and that had been about three months ago. Before that, Asa could not remember the last time they had seen each other.

She heard a noise from the bedroom of the small apartment, which she guessed, correctly, was Rin dragging himself out of bed to get food. He never had been a morning person, so she had often had to kick him out of bed so he would get up in time for lectures and the like.

As she washed her hair, she allowed her thoughts to drift to the future that she hoped to have with Rin. She loved him more than anyone else, and she hoped he felt the same for her, at least he said he did, and if his actions in bed were anything to go by, he meant it.

She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, slowly drying herself down. She pulled on her clothes in the small space, and tied her bow in her green hair, just the same as always. Then stepped out of the bathroom. 'Now, first things first, breakfast.'

-----

Rin groaned for the umpteenth time that day, still exhausted. He had made himself some toast, and was sitting at the small kitchen table munching his way through it, with a cup of coffee next to him. The kitchen, like the whole house, was pretty cramped. The couple could not have afforded anything bigger, so they had had to settle for this. At the very least, it was better than Rin's old flat: it had it's own bathroom, although that was cramped as well. The flat was all they needed, and they were happy there. They had been there for two years, and now they were going to leave it for good, to move back to Kouyou Town. **(A/N: I had to look this up, and I've altered the spelling a little, to remove the 'o's with lines on top :end A/N.)**

He looked up as Asa entered, wearing a t-shirt and skirt, which was only just long enough, and he waved to a plate of toast that he had made for her.

She sat and grabbed the butter and a knife and poured herself some coffee. For a few minutes, there was a pleasant silence, while the two of them ate their breakfast. Rin finished first, and got up to have his own shower. Everything felt like a normal weekend day, except today most of their things were now packed up for when they were to leave that afternoon. Soon, very soon, they would be back with their friends, and he would living happily together with his hot girlfriend, at least, that was the plan.

-----

Words of wisdom, spades: green haired chicks are hot. Evidence: Asa Shigure.

-----

Around a table, sat four men. 'Men' is a slight stretch of the word. To be exact, they were a god, a demon, a human and one other, who wore headgear that completely covered his head. In front of each being, lay 13 playing cards, and in the centre, face-up, lay a joker.

"The cards are all dealt," the god, who had tan skin, brown hair and brown eyes, spoke.

"Then, shall we begin?" the demon opposite replied. He had pale skin, white hair and red eyes.

"Your turn to start," the human spoke to the masked one across from him.

The one wearing the mask looked at each in turn, the god to his left, the demon to his right, and the human across from him. "I thought that after our last game four years ago that we agreed that we would no longer play with these fates, I won that game, yet you force me into another?"

The human spoke, "The cards have been dealt, you must play."

"Well, Ask, why do you say that I must."

The man, Ask, glared at the mask that hid all emotion. The god replied for him, "You know the ancient laws, we must play every game until the game of our fates comes for us."

"I know, Wodin, but what will happen if we don't?"

"Then we will stay here forever," the Demon replied for Wodin.

"I did not ask you, Loki, yet you have a point, I shall play this round, and I shall win, I, Fenrir, swear it."

"Here we go then," Ask said taking his cards.

The others took their hands as well, Fenrir glared at his hand. 'This is bad, with the fates as they are, I should have been dealt a better hand, those three must have something up their sleeves that I don't know about.'

He counted, 'only six points*, but one is my trump card.' He smiled grimly at the two valuable cards in his hand, one the ace of spades, the other the queen of spades. On the second card was a picture of a green haired girl- Asa Shigure.

He looked at each of the others, knowing one card from each hand: from Wodin's the queen of diamonds- Lisianthus, from Loki's the queen of clubs- Nerine, and from Ask's the queen of hearts- Kaede. To play with these girls fates was their business, to see who would win, and claim with the joker in the end. He was playing to make it Asa. Why? Even he did not have a clue, it was just what he did.

He looked again at the joker in the centre, on it was a picture of Rin Tsuchimi.

"You to bid, Fenrir," Ask said.

"Three spades..."

-----

Words of Wisdom, spades 2: every rule has exceptions. Evidence: Mayumi Thyme.

-----

Rin had packed his and Asa's suitcases into his car. They were finally leaving the flat that they had lived in for two years. Asa walked down the steps to the roadside. "I've handed over the keys."

Rin opened the passenger door for her, "Then shall we?"

Asa climbed in, and Rin closed the door. He looked up at the apartment block for one last time. They were moving on again, and who knew where their path would lead them. He walked round to the other side of the car and climbed in himself. He turned to his girlfriend, "Ready?"

"Ready."

They were off, to their original home.

-----

_The cards are dealt,_

_They play their best,_

_To maybe change_

_A love interest_.

Fenrir smiled as he made his last trick. "The first round is mine."

Ask flicked his hair. "To make 3 spades with 6 points, no wonder you never lost, even to us."

"Well there may be a first time for everything, even for me."

Loki looked at the score-sheet, "30 above the line, 20 below."

Wodin smirked, "So still all to play for, eh Fen?"

Fenrir snarled, "I have told you not to call me that, Wodin."

"Someone has a temper today, calm down Fenrir, he's only teasing," Ask said.

"The next hand," Fenrir growled: he was not in the mood for teasing.

-----

"We're here," Rin said as he pulled into the drive of a very familiar house.

Asa who had nearly fallen asleep next to him after the three hour drive lifted her head and smiled. "Home sweet home."

Rin got out and grabbed the suitcases, while Asa, suddenly more awake, ran up to the front door and rang the bell, unable to stand still. The door opened to show...

"Mother!" Asa jumped into her mother's arms.

"Hey there Asa, how're you." Ama was smiling as always. She was wearing her usual cat-eared hat, and her old blue, strapped dress.

"Fine thanks Mum." Asa hugged her mother tightly, "It's been a while hasn't it?"

Rin walked up behind them, cases in hand, and watched the touching scene. Until Ama looked up at him, "Do come in Rin, it's nice to see you again."

Rin entered, for the moment at least, this would be a sort of home. He and Asa were going to look for their own place as soon as they had proper jobs, but for the moment they would stay with Ama. At least that was the plan, but nobody can predict when storm clouds will gather, or when the lightning will strike.

-----

A/N: For those who are wondering, the game of cards is not going to take up large amounts of the story, it's just there for artistic comparison. The game they are playing is an altered version of 'bridge,' which is altered so that you do not have to play with partners. For those who don't know how to play bridge, it's like wist, but with bidding and a funny points system. If you don't know how to play wist, I'm a little surprised. *When Fenrir mentions points, he is using a bridge method to work out the value of your hand: each Jack is one point, each Queen is two, King is three and an Ace is four.

The bidding works as follows (you will need to understand Wist to understand this): you can say a number followed by a suit, or 'no bid'. That suit is what you want to be trumps. The number determines the number of tricks you must win, which is normally 6+the number you said, but in this case is 3+ that number. You should have about 12 points in you hand (see above) to start bidding at one of a suit, to start bidding at three is normally suicide. When there are three 'no bid's in a row, the last bidder is 'playing' that game. If you make that number of tricks, you get a set number of points, if you get fewer, your opponants get points, but these points count for different things, it's complicated, though in the end it is whoever has most points overall who wins, regardless of the type of points that they are.

If you want a better explanation, go to wikipedia and look at 'Contract bridge,' bearing in mind that I have fiddled with the game to enable for it to be played without partners. You don't have to understand to read the fic, but it would help.

And I overuse 'Fenrir' as a name, so sue me, but I couldn't think of a better one. All the names are references to Norse Mythology.

Bis Bald

BW


	2. Second Player, Play Low

A Bad Hand, Ch2: Second Player, Play Low

"Come on Rin, get up already!"

The boy in question raised his head, to see an impatient Asa, who was already half way through getting dressed. She was currently trying to pull on a t-shirt and tie her hair at the same time. All she had managed was to tie herself to the t-shirt. Rin sighed, but knew better than to try to help, she always wanted to do things by herself as much as possible, even to destruction, although Rin generally stepped in before things got too bad.

Rin groaned as he sat up. They had been sleeping in Asa's old room. Well, sleeping was most emphatically not the only thing that they had been doing. Rin grinned at the thought. Then he turned to his girlfriend again, who had managed, in addition to her t-shirt and ribbon, to entangle her bra as well. 'Oh dear,' Rin thought, getting out of the bed to help her.

After having untangled Asa, and having got dressed, they made their way down for a good full breakfast, or so Rin thought.

"Ah, you're up, do you want me to make some breakfast?"

"Thanks Mum, but we're going to go out soon, so we'll only have time for toast."

"What?" Rin was greatly distressed by this news, he had hoped to have a decent breakfast at a leisurely pace, instead of the usual mad and panicked breakfast before running out the door still adjusting one's tie.

"We have to go see the other's as soon as possible you know!"

"Asa, it's only 9 o'clock, most sane people would still be in bed."

"Then we can go see Kaede, she'll be up."

'Damn, she thinks of everything.' Rin never beat his girlfriend in an argument, but he still fought valiantly, "Yes but, she'll be making her own and Rimu's breakfast, we shouldn't disturb them so soon."

Asa thought for a minute, while Rin mentally chanted 'Please, Please, Please!' Then Asa looked up at him, "I suppose," then she turned to her mother, "I guess we'll take you up on your offer then."

'This is a day I shall never forget,' Rin thought, 'I finally won an argument with Asa, for once she didn't use the puppy-dog-eyes trick when she was close to losing, I won!'

"Oh but Rin, in that case you can take the trash out can't you?" Asa said.

'Talk about raining on my parade...' but Rin silently did as ordered.

-----

Words of wisdom, hearts: Cat-girls are sexy, evidence: Primula's maid costume.

-----

Fenrir growled somewhere in the back of his throat, this game was going nowhere. Every round, one of the other three were playing, but they always bid too high, and failed to make any way. All it did was put Fenrir in a huge lead. 'But if I can't play a round, I'm not likely to win, eventually one of these guys is going to make a bid, and then of course eventually one of them will make a game, then a rubber. This is tedious.'

He played his last card, stopping Wodin from making his bid. The God sighed, "That's the seventh round, and you're the only one to make your bid Fenrir, how did you do it?"

"I just did, now can we please move on."

"Okay, okay," Loki said, as the cards mysteriously shuffled and dealt themselves, "We get it, you're bored, even playing with fates isn't exciting enough for you it seems."

"It's because it's with fates that this tedium is even more annoying." Fenrir silently wondered why Loki ever played, he was dire at bridge. Nerine did not stand a chance with Rin. 'As they say, second player play low, but who're first, third and fourth to try?'

"How so?" Ask questioned as the cards were dealt.

"To be bored just shows how shallow this really is, and I hate it."

"Well do you want to give up then?"

"No, there is a girl's fate on my shoulders, I won't disgrace myself by stopping, but you are the ones who should concede, or else things may go out of hand."

"Oh really?" Wodin asked, taking his hand, "Well it's you to bid Fenrir."

Hardly glancing at his cards, Fenrir said "Four Spades."

-----

As Rin finished up his breakfast, Asa was pulling her shoes on. 'She's still as energetic as ever, which is sometimes good but mostly just tires me out.' Rin stood up as he finished, walking over to Asa as she leaped up, ready to go.

"Come _on _Rin. You are the slowest guy ever."

"Well you are the most energetic girl ever."

"I'm not a girl, I'm a woman," she said, fluttering eyelashes at about 1000 fpm (flutters per minute).

"Well you don't need to use your womanly ways on me, I'm already completely helpless when you're concerned," Rin replied, as he stood from putting his own shoes on. Then he wrapped his arms around Asa and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Awww... Rin, you're so sweet."

"It's all for you Asa."

Ama put her head round the door, "Are you two going to stand there all day, or have you got friends to see?"

"Good point, bye Mum, let's go Rin," Asa said, pulling a slightly reluctant Rin after her.

Ama laughed at her daughter's antics, and at Rin's face as he was suddenly pulled out the door. 'My, my, how does he survive? He seems to just follow whatever she tells him, it's easy to see who 'wears the trousers' in their relationship.' This conjured up an image of Rin in a skirt, which kept Ama laughing for quite some time.

-----

"You made it again Fenrir, how I have no idea," Wodin stated, as Fenrir played his last card, the queen of spades, winning the last trick he needed.

"It's just a nack, now can we get on with this, I only have a finite amount of patience you know."

"Sure, sure, you don't need to feel so rushed though, we still have quite a few rounds, we can take our time," said Loki.

"That's just prolonging the inevitable, trust me on that one," Fenrir replied calmly, as the cards shuffled and dealt themselves again.

"What is so inevitable?" Ask queried.

"You'll see," was all Fenrir divulged, before picking up his hand again.

-----

Kaede, Primula, Sia and Nerine were all sitting round Kaede's kitchen table, with a game board in front of them, and cards in hand.

Sia gave a glare to each of them, as she rolled her dice, then moved her red model to the centre square. "I accuse... Professor Plum, in the kitchen, with the lead piping." She checked the cards, she was right. "I win again."

Nerine sighed, "You always win at this, let's play something different." As she said this, they heard the doorbell ring.

"Who could that be?" Kaede said as she stood to answer the door, while the other three squabbled over what game to play. She reached the door and opened it, to reveal two smiling faces, one with green hair, and the other with brown. Kaede blinked then smiled as Asa jumped to give her a hug. "Asa, Rin, it's been ages."

"Yeah, it's good to see you again Kaede," Rin said, somewhat calmer than his girlfriend.

The other three girls had come out of the kitchen after having heard the slight commotion. Primula stood still and smiled, Nerine walked forward to greet the newcomers, and Sia jumped forward shouting "RIN!" and promptly throwing her arms around him.

Rin collapsed under Sia. He groaned, "Sia, it's nice to see you too, but did you really have to jump me?"

Sia's eyes and attitude changed, "What? Don't you like having young ladies jumping at you and you ending up underneath them?"

"Um," Rin saw the fire that had suddenly appeared in Asa's eyes as she watched the scene. "Well I don't need girls to jump at me... I already have a girlfriend," he said, grinning stupidly.

"Oh~, I just wanted to give my old friend a hug, is there something wrong with that?" Sia was back to her 'normal' self in a second. She climbed off Rin and helped him up.

'That damn Kikyou will be the death of me one of these days,' Rin mentally grumbled as he got up.

"So you two," Kaede started, leading them into the kitchen, "How've you been these last months?"

"Not bad, well, Rin's as bad a morning person as ever, but you wouldn't expect him to improve that much, he's far too lazy," Asa said, giggling a little.

"Just because you have more energy than a hyperactive four-year old the whole time, it does NOT give you the right to call others lazy," Rin complained, glaring a little at Asa.

"Huh? Well I was just telling the truth, you are pretty damn lazy most of the time."

"Be that as it may, you don't need to tell everyone."

"True, everyone already knows."

Rin could not argue back at this, and so tried to salvage some pride by maintaining a stern silence. He took the chance to have a look around the kitchen. Not much had changed, a new toaster was all he could find that was different from his last visit. 'Same old house,' he looked at his friends, who were now holding a private inquisition for Asa about her life for the past few months, making Rin smile, 'Same old people.'

Everything seemed just the same as it had been four years ago...

-_Flashback-_

_"So this is our last day..." Rin said, walking down the street with Asa, hand-in-hand._

_"Yeah... it seems like not so very long ago, things were so different..."_

_"Well it's not been all that long since I didn't have a beautiful girl dating me, but that's beside the point," Rin said as they turned into the school._

_"RIN TSUCHIMI!" Rin and Asa looked for the speaker, and saw about 50 boys standing together, glaring at Rin. "We are the AAA, and we demand..."_

_"The AA? Like the car repair people?" Rin asked._

_"NO! The AAA. The Agents of Angelic Asa, and we demand you stop monopolising Miss Asa!" the leader said._

_"Seems like some things never change," Asa said quietly._

_"Oh really?" Rin said, then turned to the 'AAA,' "What'll happen if I don't comply?"_

_"We will hunt you down like the dog you are, Tsuchimi," The whole group answered._

_"Really? Evidently you didn't expect one thing..." a group of girls appeared from nowhere and surrounded the group._

_"Wh-what's this?"_

_The girl all cried shouted, "We're the RAF, the RinXAsa Fangirls!"_

_Rin started laughing, "Now, feel the wrath of my FANGIRLS!"_

_Soon thereafter the 'AAA' were incapable, and unwilling to bother Rin again.  
_

_-End-Flashback-_

Rin let out a little laugh. 'Okay, maybe things _do _change now and then...'

-----

Words of Wisdom, hearts 2: Fangirls are bloody scary, evidence: you don't need it.

-----

_Another round_

_ Has come and gone,_

_Our best guess_

_May still be wrong.  
_

'Interesting, Ask actually made his bid... this could be less boring than I thought.'

Ask smiled, "Well things are going a little better now I think."

Wodin sighed, "You lucky guy, that was very close."

"So were both of Fenrir's," Ask pointed out.

"That's because I predicted well, you were indeed lucky," Fenrir stated, 'Yes, lucky that Wodin failed to see what you were trying to do, the idiot.'

"You just say that Fenrir, but regardless, nobody's won yet." Ask smiled as the cards reshuffled.

'Hmmm... for him to win, that means that Miss Fuyou is making some kind of move... or it may be circumstantial... I can't tell yet.' Fenrir glanced at his watch, and willed the face to show him Rin and Asa. 'Interesting... they are at Kaede's house, this could change things very quickly...'

-----

A/N: Okay, the flashback was a bit random. Thanks to Elias Pedro for the one review I got. Anyone else, please review!

Bis Bald

BW


	3. Redeal

A Bad Hand, Ch3: Re-deal

"So, did you enjoy today Asa?" Rin asked his girlfriend as they walked back to Ama's house.

"Yeah, it was fun, I'm almost tired."

"Did I just hear you correctly?" Rin asked surprised.

"I was kidding," Asa replied, giving him a moderate slap on the back. She did not do it anymore, well not often, so Rin was not expecting it, and ended up face down on the pavement.

"Ow, Asa was that necerssary?"

"Hm... well kinda," she said smiling at him.

Rin sighed, Asa would never stop deliberately getting on his nerves, but she only had to smile and he would forgive her. She just had that effect on him. "Well come on," he said, picking himself up off the ground, "Let's get home, we don't want to be late for dinner do we?"

Asa nodded, "Oh, I can't believe we're back home again, it was ages ago that we were last back here, and we can see all our old friends again."

"Yeah, they're all just as insane as ever," Rin said smiling. He thought over them all: Nerine was still quiet and thoughtful, Kaede was still kind and selfless, Primula was getting on well at school, Itsuki had finally given in to his real feelings and asked Mayumi out and Sia was still beating her father's head in with chairs every so often. Except for the last of those, Rin was glad of them, but he had hoped that the God princess would have stopped nearly killing her father from the blunt force trauma by now. Still, on the whole, things looked good.

"Yeah, but they're all just the right amount of insane I think," said Asa, a mischievous look on her face.

"Maybe you're right, and we certainly wouldn't have it any other way," Rin replied. The couple walked on, chatting all about their day, while overhead, the Sun shone brightly on them.

-----

'How ironic,' Fenrir thought, as he watched the couple through his watch, the image on the face showing nothing foreboding at all. 'But they say the calm always comes before the storm, and as for this storm, it makes me wonder if they'll make it out in one piece.' Fenrir turned his attention back to the game, as another hand of cards appeared before him. He counted: five points. 'A storm indeed.'

"Two hearts." Fenrir looked up at Ask. 'He's been playing well, he's taking it very seriously this time round. If things don't change soon... all hell could break loose.'

-----

Rin looked up at the ceiling of Asa's bedroom. Asa was asleep, with her head resting on the right side of his chest. Rin was tired, but something was keeping him from sleep. 'It's like... something is trying to warn me, something...' He had occasionally felt it before, four years ago, before he had chosen Asa, before he saved her. The feeling of nervousness, of dread. 'Something bad is about to happen, that's what this feeling is saying... it was true before. I felt like this just before Rimu left after her illness, and again before Kaede got angry at Asa... could it be that something else will happen...' He looked at the sleeping girl. She was beautiful, but he always thought that anyway, everything about her was, in his eyes, perfect. 'I hope, that whatever happens, that Asa is alright.' He put his right arm round to hold her, 'I'll always look after her, I'll always love her.'

Then he closed his eyes, and slowly drifted to sleep. But the unease continued, he dreamed he was in a place of pure darkness. Then slowly, a low light was raised around him. He was standing behind somebody, and there were three others around the table: A god, a demon and a human. The person in front of him had something over his face, so Rin could not tell his race. Each of them had a hand of cards.

_"Rin Tsuchimi? Can you hear me?"_

Rin was starled, he looked for the speaker, but the voice, seemed to have come from within himself.

_"Do not worry, you are the only one who can hear my thoughts, and I am the only one who can see or hear you. I called you here to ask you something."_

"Wh-what is it?" Rin could barely keep the terror out of his voice. Whoever it was, they could project thoughts, and therefore probably read them. 'This is stupid, it's only a dream!'

_"You think this is a dream? Oh trust me it isn't."_

Rin looked at the four beings, trying to work out who it was who was 'talking' to him.

_"I am the one who's face you cannot see. Now Tsuchimi, I must ask you, do you truely love Asa Shigure?"_

"Of course," Rin spoke, hoping that none of the other three could hear him, as the person behind the mask had claimed. They took no notice, but Rin felt something probing his mind.

After some time, he heard the voice again, _"Very well, then look at my hand."_

Rin looked. He saw his remaining cards, on one of them, the queen of spades, was a picture of Asa. "What the heck?"

_"This is a game of fates, that is all I shall say."_

"And who are you?"

_"My name, is Fenrir, an Ookami."_

'Ookami, a wolf god?' Rin thought to himself, 'Then what is he really?'

_"I shall tell you no more for the present, but one thing: be careful. I am on Asa's side here, and therefore presumably yours, but I cannot stop the inevitable. Now you must return."_

"Wait! What's going to happen?" Rin called, as the lights dimmed. "No don't leave I need to know..."

Rin's eyes opened wide. He looked at the ceiling again. 'What was that? Could it be that he was the one warning me before? But then why appear now? And why ask me about my love for Asa?' Rin looked at the still sleeping girl, then at the alarm clock. '7:00, but that 'dream' felt like only a few minutes, not several hours. There's something odd going on here.'

-----

Words of wisdom, diamonds: bad feelings are generally very accurate.

-----

Fenrir smirked, as he knew what he needed to do. What he had done with Rin was a mere long range adaptation of his powers. He was capable of mind-reading, and transmitting thoughts. That was a basic power for one of his type. The ookami were few in number, but had very strong powers. This mind-reading was how he had never lost a game of bridge. He was good, but not _that_ good. 'Now, let me see, Ask is about to lead the king? A wise mood to be sure, given the circumstances, although...' he moved his thoughts to Wodin's mind 'He has the eight of hearts... trumps. I play before him, so should I let him take it, or risk losing control later.' He moved to Loki's mind, 'Ah... but he will play that nice queen of his, then he'll be left with all the diamonds... but I think...'

The first two played as he predicted, then he looked carefully at his cards, then placed the two of hearts on the pile. Wodin smiled as he played the eight on top. 'Fool,' Fenrir thought, 'He is right where I want him...'

-----

Rin was sitting at the kitchen table, thinking again about his 'dream' the night before. It puzzled him. 'If he told the truth, and that dream was real, then something really bad will happen soon. I hope it's just my imagination.' He stared at his breakfast depressingly 'And we were having such a great time too...'

Asa noticed his sombre expression, "Rin, are you okay?"

Rin looked up and forced a smile, "I'm fine, I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Well we did stay up quite late..." Asa said, smiling mischievously, "But I'm not tired."

"But you went out like a light straight afterwards," Rin pointed out, "I didn't get to sleep for ages, and then woke up early."

"Awww... poor Rin," Asa said, pulling a sad face, "I guess I should go easy on you today then..."

'Well at least I got sympathy from her...' Rin thought.

"Although, if I completely wear you out then you should sleep better tonight," Asa grinned.

'I thought she wouldn't be that nice...' Rin sighed, "Okay then, what're we doing today?"

"You and I are going on a little shopping trip."

Rin raised an eyebrow, "Does that mean you do the shopping, I do the carrying it all home?"

"Hm... maybe," Asa replied.

"How did I guess?" Rin sighed again.

-----

'So easy,' Fenrir thought, as he played his trick, stopping Ask's bid from being made. His ability to mind-read was very useful, but he only used it when he absolutely had to do so. 'In this case, I owe it to Rin to win this game. I won last time, and I can do it again.' The cards were re-dealt, 'Just like this scenario. With my power, it makes this a whole different game... it's like the odds have been re-dealt. And the inevitable must happen, I must win.'

-----

Words of wisdom, diamonds 2: conversely, good feelings are very seldom right.

-----

"Asa, how much more are you going to buy?"

"Oh, just a few more things," Asa said, before running ahead to check another shop.

'That girl is going to give me a heart attack before long...' Rin thought, as he stumbled after her, carrying a dozen or so bags. Asa was not one of those girls who always wanted new clothes, new jewelry new 'this,' new 'that' and the often spoken of 'other.' However, she reserved the right to occaisionaly be very girly, and when she decided to act like a girl about shopping, then Rin, and his wallet, were both in severe trouble.

Rin eventually caught up with her, just as she came out of another clothes shop, with another bag in her hand, which she promptly gave to Rin. "Asa, seriously, how much more are you going to buy?"

"Oh, I think that's about enough," Rin would have jumped for joy, if the bags he was carrying were a little lighter. "Good thing too actually," Asa continued, looking up at the sky, "looks like it'll rain soon."

"Ah, goody," Rin said sarcastically. The two of them started the walk back. Part way there, it started to rain. At first it was only light, but it started to get heavier.

"Urgh... and I didn't bring an umbrella," Asa complained.

"You should run on ahead," Rin said, "I'll catch you up later."

Asa looked back at him, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I don't want you getting wetter than you have to."

Asa smiled, then gave him a quick kiss and ran off, calling back "See you later then."

Rin continued on through the rain slowly. He was tired from the lack of sleep, and from carrying the bags all morning. The rain was not helping matters at all either. It kept getting heavier and heavier. He walked down the road he used to live in, past Nerine's house, then as he passed Kaede's, he saw her come running down the path towards him. "Rin! You should come in, you're soaked."

Kaede led Rin into the familiar house. "Thanks Kaede, it really was chucking it down out there."

"Not a problem Rin you can stay until the rain's gone, but why were you out in all that rain? And what's with the bags?"

"Oh, I was shopping with Asa, then it started raining and I told her to go on ahead."

Primula came down the stairs, carrying a couple of towels, "Here you go you two," she said, handing one to each of the others.

"Thanks Rimu," Rin said, before putting the bags down and starting to dry himself.

"Do you want some tea Rin? I was just making some when I spotted you," Kaede asked.

"Yes please Kaede, but could I use your phone, Asa might worry when I don't turn up."

"Sure," Kaede replied, before disappearing into the kitchen to sort out the tea.

Rin walked to the phone to call Asa.

_"Hello, Shigure house."_

"Asa, it's me, Rin."

_"Rin? Where are you?"_

"Kaede invited me in out of the rain, I'll be staying here until it stops being so heavy. Did you get home okay?"

_"Yeah, I'm okay, damp but okay."_

"Good, well I'll see you soon."

_"Okay, love you."_

"Love you too."

-----

Fenrir was watching the scene on his watch, while cursing mildly in his head. 'Damn it! If something goes wrong while he's at her house, then I we could be in for problems.' He turned his mind to reading Ask's. He found something was blocking it, 'Damn! Either he's worked out what I'm doing, or he's thinking about something he really doesn't want me to know about. This mind-block, why is this happening, now of all times?'

Fenrir looked at his new hand. 'Well if need be, to the hells we go...'

-----

A/N: sorry for the long delay. I have had a fair bit of work to worry about, so it's been hard to get everything I wanted done. Review please.

Bis Bald

BW


	4. A Loaded Deck

A Bad Hand, Ch4: A Loaded Deck

Rin woke up at the sound of the phone ringing downstairs. He pulled himself into a sitting position. He was in his old room at Kaede's house. It hardly seemed to have changed since he had lived there himself, and he doubted Kaede ever went in there. There was even dust, when Kaede usually made a point of keeping the entire house spotless. 'It's like she's afraid to come in, even though I'm not here any more, or maybe because I'm not here any more. I don't know what's wrong with her most of the time, she always suffers in silence, until she can't hold it in any more...'

He pulled himself out of bed, and took his now dry clothes and put them on. He hung them by the radiator to dry. It had rained most of the night, and it had to have been the one day that Ama was out, so she could not drive over to get Rin. Kaede's father was off on one of his many business trips, and Sia and Nerine's fathers had both had their licences taken away for 'dangerous driving.' They had actually both been completely drunk, but the police did not want to offend the kings of the gods and demons, so they had only had their licenses taken away.

Rin finished dressing and walked down the stairs. He saw Primula talking on the phone, "Oh, wait a second, he's just come down." She motioned for Rin to take the phone. "Asa," she said before walking off.

Rin put the phone to his ear, "Hello."

_"Oh Rin! I've been so lonely without you!"_ Asa said through the phone, trying to sound as much like a damsel in distress as possible.

"Asa, I've only been gone for one night, and you get to see me again in about an hour."

_"That's not good enough, I'm coming over right now to see my boyfriend who I miss so much, even though he's so mean!"_

"Asa, you know I was only teasing, and I missed you too, it was a very lonly night without you, but I managed."

_"Oh Rin, you are naughty, I thought you might have missed me for other reasons, but I suppose we can have some private time when we get home, to make up for what we missed last night."_

"That's not what I... Asa you!"

_"Haha, well I'm gonna be there in ten minutes, maybe five if I run."_

"Okay, just don't wear yourself out."

_"Oh I'll keep plenty of energy for later, you can be sure of that!"_

"Asa!"

_"Well see you soon, love you."_

"Love you too."

Rin hung up the phone and turned to go upstairs to tell Kaede. He knocked on her door, but she was not there. Then he heard the sound of a shower running, 'She must be there.'

-----

Asa was jogging towards the Furude house. She had been lonely the previous night, since Rin and her mother were both out. She also did not like leaving Rin with Kaede, and between Sia and Nerine's houses. She did not want to think about what one of the girls might try to pull while she had her back turned.

She reached the house, and knocked. Primula was the one who opened the door. "Come in, Rin and Kaede are upstairs at the moment."

Asa entered and started to walk up the stairs, when she heard voices.

"Okay, and thanks for last night Kaede, you're a life saver."

"That's okay Rin, any time."

"Well you'd better get dressed before Asa gets here," Rin turned to walk down the stairs, when he saw Asa.

Asa was currently putting two and two together, and had made what appeared to be four. 'Why wasn't she dressed? And he thanked her for last night? He said on the phone that he 'managed' without me. No he wouldn't...'

"Oh, you got here sooner than we expected Asa." Rin walked down the stairs towards her. 'He did it, he slept with her, he's just a perverted...' Rin was surprised when Asa turned and ran out of the house, with tears in her eyes.

-----

Rin was still waiting for Kaede to come out of the shower, when he head the water stop. 'About time, Asa'll be here soon.'

He heard the lock click, and Kaede emerged, in only a towel. When she saw him, she stopped still, and blushed, "Uh... Rin, um..."

Rin's face was almost as red as Kaede's. "Um... I just came to tell you that Asa phoned and she'll be here to get me soon."

"Sure, but would you like some breakfast before you go?"

"Okay, and thanks for last night Kaede, you're a life saver."

"That's okay Rin, any time."

"Well you'd better get dressed before Asa gets here," Rin said, as Kaede went into her bedroom to change. He went to the stairs to go down when saw Asa about half-way up, "Oh, you got here sooner than we expected Asa." He walked down, then noticed she looked a little upset, he was about to ask if she was okay, when she turned and fled.

'What the...' Rin ran after her. 'I hope she's okay, but why is she running away?'

'Oh yeah, she's a lot faster than me,' Rin thought as she disappeared into the distance, 'Now what am I going to do?'

-----

Words of Wisdom, clubs: Shit happens, live with it.

-----

'Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!' was roughly what was running through Fenrir's mind at that point as he surveyed the situation through his watch. Neither the game, nor the fate that was centered around it, was going well. Ask had won two more rounds and was set to win this one, 'That'll put him in the lead now can I stop him?'

This was like playing with the deck loaded against him: almost impossible. He knew what cards Ask had in spite of not being able to read his mind, as he could read the others', but he now could not tell how he would respond to certain ways of playing. 'I have all the information, but none of the right cards, he has the right cards but none of the information. Just like Asa knows why everything has happened, but is in a bad position, while Kaede is in a good position, but is clueless about what's going on.'

Frustrated, Fenrir continued playing, just managing to stop Ask from winning at the last trick. 'That was far too close, I wonder how he got so much better, he was third last time we played. Maybe it's because fate wants Kaede to have Rin. Not on my watch she won't.'

-----

Asa ran crying up the steps to the outlook. She had not really thought about where she was going, until she found herself there. 'Back where it all began, and where it nearly all ended once before...' She stood at the edge, looking over the town. 'It's so beautiful, but...' She felt utterly separate from everything around her: it was beautiful, she felt horrid and ugly inside, everything seemed so happy, she was so very sad. Her tears dropped onto her hands that clenched the railing tightly enough to turn her knuckles white.

"How..." Asa choked out, "How could he?"

"What did I do this time? I feel like a complete jerk, making you cry, so please tell me, what did I do wrong?"

Asa knew who it was, but did not move. "Go away, go back to that little bitch that you thought you'd use for a night, then come back to me like nothing had happened."

"Asa, nothing happened between me and Kaede, I swear it didn't, you're the only girl I love, and the only one I could love." Rin sounded serious, but Asa still refused to believe him, 'How can you trust him, after what he was saying to her...'

"Asa," Rin put his arms around her from behind, "Asa, you know I couldn't intentional hurt you, I love you more than anything..."

"Really? Then why were you with Kaede when she was naked."

"Asa think, I'd only just got off the phone to you a few minutes before, I knew that you were coming, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to do anything like that. I went to tell her it was you who phoned and that I would be going soon. She'd just come out the shower, and she only had her towel on, so I thanked her for letting me stay, and said she should get dressed."

Asa let go of the railing and turned to look at him. His brown eyes were filled with fear over what she might say or do if she did not believe him, worry over what might happen to her, and love... that was what made Asa believe him. She leant in and put her head on his chest, "I'm sorry..."

"That's okay, you were just upset because you misunderstood something, now let's go home, we can pick up the shopping some other time, you need some rest after all that running."

Asa would have made some kind of quip about him being more tired than her, but did not want to spoil the moment. They left the outlook and walked away holding hands.

-----

Words of Wisdom, clubs 2: Usually, there is some way out of the shit.

-----

'Crisis averted, just.' Fenrir sighed as he made a final trick to win the round.

"You have a game, well done Fenrir," Loki said, looking at the points.

"One more from you and that's it," Wodin said, scratching his head, "How do you do it?"

"As I said before, I just do." Fenrir was less impatient than normal, more pensieve. He was also worried. Asa had already suspected Rin, quite wrongly, of cheating on her. 'The sooner this is all over, the better, but I don't want to rush things, I may be good, but can I beat fate?'

"Well let's see how it goes, I have a feeling that something could change." Ask was so full of himself, Fenrir thought. As he had said before, Fenrir knew that the ending was inevitable, but that did not mean that Fenrir could sit back and not play, he had to play this game, as he had for a hundred years, not only for Asa's sake, but also for his own.

-----

Rin sat by the kitchen table back at Ama's house. Asa was asleep in the bedroom. She had been in a state, and although she had calmed down, she had been very tired. He hoped that she would feel better soon, she had given him quite a shock. 'I'm not going to let her ever be too far away, I'm going to stay as close as I can, so she feels safe with me.' He knew that she was a little insecure at times, especially about him, but never to the extent that she thought he was cheating on her.

He sat back in his chair and sighed, closing his eyes briefly. The fact was that he was tired himself after chasing Asa and walking/carrying her home.

"Rin!" he heard a little call from the bedroom: Asa. "Rin, could you come through here!"

Rin walked through to find Asa sitting up in the bed, "What is it Asa?"

"C-could you come and sleep with me? I need you, it feels a bit lonely without you." This was the side of Asa that she kept hidden from all except Rin and Ama, the side that was the little girl she had been twelve years ago, when she was constantly sick, and just needed to have someone who cared about her there with her, the one that wanted to be loved, the one that just needed a damn hug.

Rin pulled off his shirt and climbed into bed with her, then put his arms around her, whispering "I'm here for you, I always will be, my love."

Asa lay her head on Rin's chest, "Thank you Rin, I love you."

"And I love you too Asa, and only you, forever."

It was only midday, but the couple happily drifted off to sleep in each other's arms, and they did not need to worry about how they would not sleep that night: they would not be trying to anyway.

-----

A/N: Aw... I was going to drag this out a bit more, over two chapters, but I can't be mean to Asa, she's second on my list of green haired girls I wish really existed so that I could... ahem let's not go into that one.

Anyway, REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's about it...

Bis Bald

BW


	5. Deal From The Bottom

A Bad Hand, Ch5: Dealt From the Bottom

Asa moved a little. It had been a week since the unfortunate misunderstanding with Rin. She opened her eyes, feeling Rin's warm body next to her own, one of his arms holding her to him comfortingly. Asa grinned at this: he was so protective of her, holding her close even in sleep. He really was the best boyfriend a girl could ask for: a kind, caring guy, who was also excellent at...

Asa's thought process was halted by a sudden feeling, 'Ah shit.' She made a dash for the bathroom and threw up, 'I knew I shouldn't have eaten so much last night... but I really needed food.'

"Asa, you okay?" Rin called through, Asa's sudden movement having woken him.

Asa wiped her mouth and stood up, "I'm okay, I think I just ate too much last night, and my stomach didn't like it." She left the bathroom and went down the corridor then entered the bedroom to find Rin pulling some trousers on. When Rin saw her, he smirked a little. Asa looked quizzically at him, "What's wrong?"

"Well you just ran down the hallway in your mother's house completely naked."

Asa looked down at herself and blushed. "Well it's alright, Mum didn't see me or anything," she said calmly as she grabbed her clothes from the floor and a pair of panties and bra from her draw, putting them on as fast as she could. She was really tired still though, and was quite a lot slower than normal.

Once dressed Asa pulled Rin to the kitchen, where Ama was cooking them breakfast. When she finished she turned to them. "So what are you two going to do today then?" She asked while serving them.

"I think we're going to go and look for jobs today," Rin replied.

"Hm..." was all Asa said. She had a slightly distant look in her eyes.

"Something wrong Asa?" Rin asked, a little worried.

"Huh? Oh no... I'm just... fine," Asa replied unconvincingly.

They ate their meal in silence, though Asa only picked at her food. Eventually Rin put his fork down and looked straight at Asa, "Asa, what's wrong? You've been acting oddly all morning."

Asa looked up at him, "Uh... Rin, I'm fi..." Asa did not finish, as her eyes fluttered shut and she fainted, falling off her chair into Rin's arms as he quickly caught her.

"Asa, Asa!" Rin called to her. Her cheeks were flushed and when he put his hand to her forehead, it was hot. "She's got a fever or something. I'll put her to bed," Rin said to Asa, then he picked his girlfriend up bridal style, and carried her through to the bedroom.

-----

Asa came to a while later. She felt her forehead was burning, but there was something cool on it: an ice pack? She also felt incredibly weak. Her blurred vision allowed her to see Rin sitting by her bed watching her.

When he saw her eyes open, Rin moved closer to her and spoke softly, "Asa, how are you feeling?"

"Not too good," Asa answered quietly.

"The doctor will be here in a while, you have a very high temperature though, so just stay there if you can and get some rest."

"Okay Rin," Asa closed her eyes again, and drifted back to sleep.

Rin smiled at her peaceful form. It was rare for Asa to be calm, but when she was, she was so very beautiful. He lent over and kissed her softly. "Get well soon Asa, my love. Beautiful as you are when asleep, I like your energetic self more."

-----

Fenrir growled somewhere in the back of his throat, distinctly annoyed. He was bored out of his mind. They had spent a week of going round in circles, while Loki and Wodin lost rounds. However well those two played now, they were basically out of the game, as Fenrir and Ask now had massive leads over them. 'A whole week wasted, while Ask and I are still the same distance apart, and I still can't read his mind. No normal human could stop my powers, so how can he manage.'

Fenrir closed his eyes and willed his mind elsewhere while the cards were shuffling themselves. He was looking for two particular minds. If need be, he could cheat very effectively. He found the minds he wanted, then started transferring a stream of thoughts into both. He opened his eyes just as the last card was dealt, and smirked behind his mask. Very soon, his main competition would start to falter, of that he was now certain.

He looked at his cards and allowed a slight chuckle to escape. He then looked up at the other players, who could not tell his mood through the mask, "Five Spades."

-----

Rin was still sat by Asa's bedside. Her temperature was going down, and the doctor had said it was nothing serious, just that Asa needed to stay in bed. There was a knock on the bedroom door, and Rin turned to see Sia, Kaede, Nerine and Primula entered, all with worried expressions.

"How is she?" Nerine asked in a slightly hushed voice.

"She's fine, it's nothing bad, she just needs to rest for a while. She should be better by morning."

"Phew, we were all really worried when we heard," Kaede said.

Rin turned back to his girlfriend in the bed, who was still in a deep sleep. He put his hand to her forehead, moving the ice pack slightly, to check her temperature again. I was now only a little higher than normal. He moved his hand away, and the ice pack fell back into place, eliciting a slight shudder from Asa.

Rin turned back to the other girls. Nerine and Primula were quite close watching worriedly. Kaede and Sia were standing back a little further, and glancing at each other oddly every so often, when they thought nobody was looking.

'Those looks they're giving each other... they look like they're longing for...' Rin was confused. 'Could they be... in love?'

-----

Words of wisdom, No Trumps: Cheaters always prosper...

-----

Fenrir was struggling to hold in a laugh as he read the minds off Kaede and Sia again. The few suggestive thoughts he had placed in their minds had worked like a charm. They had kissed before, even if only by accident, and had thought of some things like what he suggested to them before by themselves. It was the easiest thing in the world to push them together. He did not like tricking people like that very much, but it was or the sake of victory. He would win, of that he was sure. The last two rounds had been pieces of cake. A few more like that, and he would be the clear winner. Cheating made everything easier.

-----

Asa opened her eyes. Her head felt cooler than earlier, and she felt stronger. She looked over to where Rin sat, now smiling at her, and behind him the four girls. She pulled herself up slowly, as the now melted ice pack fell off onto the floor. Rin knelt on the floor next to her, to help her if she needed it.

"How're you feeling Asa?" He asked as he moved her pillows up to be more comfortable.

"A lot better, but still a little hot," she replied as she got into a sitting position.

Rin put his hand to her head again, then smiled as he took it away, "Yeah, almost completely better." He kissed her forehead, and Asa blushed a little.

"Rin, not in front of everyone!"

"Why? They've all seen us kiss before."

"Well..."

The other girls laughed a little, as they watched the lovers' argue. Sia and Kaede, however, still seemed a little out of it, and were still giving each other odd looks. They caught each other's glance and blushed before turning away.

Asa noticed this, and was about to say something when Rin signed for her to keep quiet. He knew that if he was right in his suspicions, the two girls would not want to discuss it infront of everyone else. Asa understood, and held in what she had been going to say. For the moment, it did not really matter anyway, and things would sort themselves out in time.

-----

Fenrir raised an eyebrow. In spite of everything being against it, Ask had won another round, and from that had a game. That brought things rather closer. Fenrir was still trying to work out why Ask's mind was off limits to his powers. He supposed that Ask was just so determined to win that he was unconsciously blocking out Fenrir's powers. It was still intriguing. Regardless, Fenrir had everything set up the way he wanted. Even if Ask managed to pull a victory out of the hat, Fenrir could just alter people's thoughts to set things right shortly after.

Ask looked over at Fenrir, "Something wrong Fenrir? You've hardly spoken except to bid in hours."

"I'm just contemplating how best to win this quickly." Fenrir's reply was arrogant. He just needed to win this and then everything would be over, and no more games could be played with these fates ever again.

Ask raised an eyebrow, "You sound so certain, yet I could still win quite easily."

"I wouldn't bet on it," was all Fenrir said, before turning to the cards again.

-----

Words of wisdom, No Trumps2: ...until they are caught.

-----

Rin lay in his bed, with a now nearly fully well Asa hugged up against him. He was trying his hardest to sleep, but he had got that feeling of foreboding again. Something bad was about to happen, he could just feel it. He closed his eyes, and he was in darkness. As it had the time before, light appeared, filling the room. But this was a different room, there was no table, no chairs, and only one person was there, standing opposite him, the one with the mask.

"F-Fenrir? Why am I here , and where is here, and why are you with me again?"

"It was unintentional, I was looking through the thoughts of you and your friends, and your mind called to me. This is a part of your mind, empty isn't it? This is where your worry is channeled. Currently, it is being reduced, as you think that I can explain everything to you, and ease your fears."

Rin could not detect any emotion in his voice, and the mask obscured his face. He could barely make out the features of the mask, but it seemed to be fashioned into the shape of a wolf's head, a tip of the hat to his namesake. Rin wondered why he wore it. Vanity maybe? To give an air of mystery? Or, more likely, to hide his emotions from others.

"Why do I wear it? Now why would I tell you that?"

Rin looked startled at the reply to his thoughts, but of course, Fenrir could read minds, as he had guessed the last time he was called to meet him. Rin shook his head, "So is there some reason why you wanted to look through everyone's minds?"

"To see the effects of my interference with Miss Furyou and Princess Lisianthus' minds."

"Interference?"

"You must have noticed, in fact, I know you noticed."

Rin remembered how the two girls had been glancing at each other oddly, and blushing when their eyes met. "Y-you made them fall in love? How can you play with people like that?"

"As I said before, my colleagues and I play with fates all the time, including with their love interests. But trust me, it would have happened sooner or later, I just sped the development of their feelings up a little."

"Still, you shouldn't do that sort of thing, undo it now!"

Fenrir sighed, "Do you really want them to fall out of love, and have them run after you again? Kaede might become violent again, and as for Kikyou, her actions are completely unpredictable. I can't just wipe their memories either, it would cause no end of problems. They'd be a day behind everyone, and it would confuse everyone. Face it, they love each other now, and it's staying that way for the foreseeable future."

Rin stepped back, slightly shocked, "How can you talk so calmly about this? You hardly seem to have any human sense of right and wrong!"

Fenrir smirked behind his mask. "There could be two reasons for that. The first would be that one hundred years of purgatory have made me this way. The second," he said, reaching to his mask, "is that it could be because I'm not human." As his hand touched the mask, it cracked, and broke apart.

Rin's eyes opened wide, as he stared at Fenrir's face. The other laughed.

"You see now why I wore a mask. Since I started these games one hundred years ago, I have lost my old form, the form that I was born with. I told you that I am a Ookami. We are born with two forms, one appears human, one appear lupine. When I left your world, I was thrown a hundred years into the past. On the way, my forms merged, and this was the result."

Rin still could not take his eyes off Fenrir. From the neck down, he looked like any normal human. But his face protruded into a snout. His pointed ears stood up, and his beady eyes leered down his muzzle at Rin. His face was that of a wolf.

"A hundred years? So that means..." Rin put two and two together.

"The old me will be sent back in time any day now. Actually, it is a week and a day from the today of when you wake up. That is why I know everything that happens from now on. The old me knew of you, and will meet you and Asa soon. For a hundred years I have known that a game like this would come up. I know exactly what will happen for the next eight days in great detail. However, I can't tell you what will happen, as that would cause a paradox, and would alter your actions."

"If you knew everything that would happen, then why did you ask me last time if I truely loved Asa?"

"I only knew some of the details of the event prior to yesterday. As such, I needed to know if I should use my powers to stop anything unfortunate happening."

"I assume you can't tell me how you travelled back in time."

"No, but there are some things that I can and must tell you. In order for the present me to return to my body, I need to win the game of your fates by the date that I was sent back in time. At that point, I will take back my two forms, which will lead the other me to form this form when he travels back. By playing, these games for a hundred years, I will have earned the right to return to my own body."

"What do I need to do to help?"

Fenrir smirked as much as his wolf mouth let him, "Love Asa, that is all."

Rin looked surprised, "That's not much of an answer. But why should I help? If you stay in your world, Asa will always have you to win the games of fate for her."

Fenrir smirked, "Once a game has been played for a set of fates, only the original players may play with any of those player ever again. Once I leave, all of you will be free from the games."

"Very well, then I'll help where I can." Rin saw Fenrir smile, then the lights dimmed, and he opened his eyes, back in Asa's bed.

-----

A/N: Whew, lots of plot there. Please gimme a goddamn review somebody!

Bis Bald

BW


	6. Joker In the Pack

A Bad Hand, Ch6: Joker In The Pack

Rin thought through everything Fenrir had told him that last night. He wondered why he took it all so seriously, it was probably just a weird dream. But last time he had predicted the misunderstanding with Asa. Rin was confused by a lot of what the ookami had said as well. That was one of them: an ookami? What the heck was that? Rin had met many gods and demons, but never heard anything about any ookami. He would have to ask one of the kings about them, and what powers they had.

Rin sighed. He looked over at where Asa was still asleep. He himself had woken up at about 5 o'clock, and then could not get back to sleep. He glanced at the clock: 7:48. He had been thinking about that wolf-man for nearly three hours, going through their conversation in minute detail. The part that confused him most was what he had been told to do, _"Love Asa, that is all."_ That was what Fenrir had said. 'That's so helpful of him. Couldn't he give me a slightly better idea of what to do? Then again, it is Fenrir here, he never does anything very helpful, like fiddling with the girls' minds. Although I'm kinda glad that they like each other, and will stop going after me, I don't like his interfering. What _is _his problem?'

* * *

Fenrir sighed as he heard Rin's thoughts. 'My 'problem' eh? I'd like to see how a century of this insanity would affect you.' He glanced again at his cards, it was his round, and his turn to play. As he played, he smirked as much as his wolf head would allow behind his mask. He already knew the outcome. The game hardly mattered any more. Soon, very soon, he would leave that cursed place.

He won the round with ease. 'I still have a week, this should be easy.'

* * *

Rin was walking down the street, dressed in a suit. Unusual for him to be smartly dressed, he was tugging at the shirt cuffs. After all the hassle of the past few days, he had finally found himself a job interview. It was now three days since his last encounter with Fenrir. The job he had found was at an office for a fairly small publishing business. It was just about the only decent job he could find. Asa had already secured a job as a waitress, so Rin wanted to make sure that he got a job too.

He reached the building. It was not a huge building, but was big enough to make a person feel small by looking up at it. It looked similar to all the apartment complexes that surrounded it, apart from the sign about the entrance, with the name "Urufu Publishing." Rin walked through the sliding doors at the entrance. There was a woman god sitting behind the desk in the lobby. He walked up to her.

"Hello, can I help you?" She asked Rin.

"Er, yes, I'm Rin Tsuchimi, I'm here for a job interview."

The secretary nodded, and pressed a button then talked into a microphone, "Mr. Urufu, Mr. Tsuchimi is here to see you." She then turned to Rin, "Please take the lift to the 5th floor, you'll come out in Mr. Urufu's office."

Rin thanked her and took the lift up. When the doors opened, Rin came out in a tastefully decorated office. Had light blue walls, and a few bookcases lining them, full of books that the company had published. Opposite the lift was a desk, where a man of about 24 or 25 sat. He was a tall man, with brown hair tinted with a little blue. When he looked up at Rin, Rin noticed the inteligent, deep-set brown eyes of the man.

"You must be Rin Tsuchimi," the man, Rin presumed Mr. Urufu, spoke.

"Yes, I am," Rin replied, walking to wards the desk, and extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Fenrir Urufu, present manager of the company."

Rin shook the hand manually, as he processed what he had just heard, and another thing something _he_ had said: "_The old me knew of you, and will meet you and Asa soon."_

Culd it be then, that the man smiling before him, his potential employer was the same Fenrir as the one he had met in his dreams. He then felt a familiar sensation, his mind being probed. The man before him was reading his mind, and if Rin was not careful, then he would find out about the other Fenrir. Rin did his best to hide all his thoughts about the other Fenrir, until the probing stopped, and Fenrir released Rin's hand, a slight look of puzzlement appearing on his face for a second, but it disappeared quickly, to be replaced with a warm smile. "Do take a seat," Fenrir invited, motioning to the chair on the other side of his desk.

Rin sat, and prepared himself. He needed to keep his composure, and not give anything away to the man, ookami, sitting in front of him. This would be difficult, if this Fenrir was anything like the one after a hundred years, he would be as sharp as a sword and as bright as a lightbulb, and far better than Rin at making similies up.

"So, let us begin..."

* * *

Words of Wisdom, No Trumps 3: strange things happen when you least expect them.

* * *

Rin sighed as he left the building. He was mentally exhausted. Fenrir had told him that he would be in touch about the job. Rin had spent the last hour trying to keep up with Fenrir, all the while blocking him from reading his mind with everything he had.

He walked back towards Ama's house, just walking slowly, taking his time, unaware of what was watching him. A wolf, its fur tinged a slightly blue colour, was following him in the shadows, watching him closely. It snuck after him as he turned into a busier street. It leaped onto a wall, with unnatural agility, even for one of its kind. It followed Rin into the road where Kaede, Sia and Nerine lived. Nerine was outside, watering some plants. She and Rin started talking, while the wolf watched from the shadows. Then it noticed a group of people advancing towards Rin and Nerine. The wolf snuck closer to hear the conversation.

"Tsuchimi! What are you doing with Rina. We of the R.R.R. cannot allow this, you are supposed to be in a relationship. We cannot have you monopolising Rina as well!"

"What the heck are you talking about. You idiots."

"You hear that, he doesn't even deny it. GET HIM!"

Rin got ready to run, before the wolf advanced towards them. The R.R.R. stopped and looked at the wolf. Then they opened their eyes wide and screamed. The wolf was transmiting thoughts into their minds. Thoughts that told them to leave Nerine alone, to leave Rin alone, not to interfere with them ever again. The R.R.R. were stubborn and stayed there. The wolf then showed them images of themselves being torn apart by his fangs and claws if the did not leave. The R.R.R. ran for it at that point, and the wolf turned his head to look up at the demon princess, and a single thought passed through his head 'Beautiful.'

Rin looked astounded at the wolf, knowing full well what, or rather who it must be. That odd blue ting to the fur made it clear. The wolf was Fenrir in wolf form. As if to confirm his suspicions, the wolf bowed his head, then a bluish light spread from his fur. His form changed, and he stood on his hind legs. When the light dimmed, it revealed the suited form of Fenrir. Nerine stared at him, eyes wide, while Rin merely blinked.

"My apologies Rin, I must admit that you intrigued me, so I followed you to find out more about you. I thought that I should assist you with that little matter." He then turned to Nerine and bowed politely, "I am sorry if I startled you. My name is Fenrir Urufu."

"Uh... I'm Nerine, um... what was that thing you just did?" Nerine asked nervously.

"Oh, my transformation? I'm an ookami, that is one of my powers, which are like your magic."

"An ookami? I thought they were just an old legend." Rin pondered at this comment from Nerine. He had never heard of such beings until Fenrir had shown up. Nerine must know something more.

"We almost were. There are very few of us left I'm afraid. There were few of us to start with."

Rin spoke up at this point, "Excuse me for asking, but what exactly is an ookami?"

Fenrir turned to Rin now, "We are beings descended from a group who were created when the soul of a great being, after whom I am named, fragmented. It split into millions upon millions of pieces, scattering throughout time and space, until the fragments found their way to new homes, where they grew into a new race, different from man, yet very similar, or so the legend goes. Half of us is human, but the other half is wolf, which allows us to swap between those forms."

"How come I've never heard of any ookami then?" Rin was persistant, he wanted to know the truth about this mysterious race.

"There are very few of us, as I said. Most people think we died out long ago, if we ever existed at all. But I am living proof otherwise." Fenrir smirked, "Although I have to admit, you are the first people I have told the truth to ever."

"Um... Mr. Urufu?" Nerine spoke, still a little nervous.

"Please, call me Fenrir," he smiled widely as he spoke

"Um... how do you know Rin exactly?"

"Oh, I'm his new employer."

"Huh?" Rin was surprised. Did this mean that...?

"Yes, Rin, I think you'll make an excellent worker at the company. Now, I must be getting back to the office, if you'll excuse me..." Fenrir glowed blue again, and turned back into a wolf, then turned and bowed to each of them.

"I'll see you on Monday then Rin," Fenrir said, in a deeper voice than his human one. It was the same voice that the older Fenrir used when he spoke. Fenrir then turned to Nerine, "It was a pleasure to meet you Nerine," he said bowing his head.

"Um... thank you... Fenrir."

Fenrir then turned and ran off. Rin was deep in thought. Then he noticed the expression on Nerine's face. She was staring blankly after Fenrir, with surprise, with curiosity, and something else. Rin blinked, it looked similar to what he had seen in Sia and Kaede's eyes. Could it be... love?

* * *

Words of Wisdom, No Trumps 4: even stranger things happen when you do expect it.

* * *

Fenrir sat with his cards in front of him, boredom having set in again. He had just watched the scene that he had once taken part in so many years ago. He had to admit, that demon girl was beautiful. He had wanted her to be let down gently by Rin in the previous game, so he had tried to make Loki lose outright, so she did not get her hopes up. He had hardly needed to try to make him lose, Loki was dire at bridge, even though he had been playing it for seven decades.

Fenrir had looked again into his watch, to the image of Nerine, and a small small graced his lupine lips.

* * *

A/N: I just discovered that Fanfic no longer lets me use my old way old dividing up story sections. I may go through and sort this out at some point, but not very soon. This will only affect old chapters, the new ones should be okay. Please review.

Bis Bald

BW


	7. Holding Hands

A Bad Hand, Ch7: Holding Hands

Rin mentally called to Fenrir that night. He needed to talk to him. As darkness enveloped him, he looked around. As the familiar light appeared around him, he saw Fenrir standing opposite him. He was wearing his mask again. "You can take that off Fenrir, I prefer talking face to face properly."

Fenrir's hand touched his mask, and as it had before, it shattered apart. "So, what did you want to talk about then Rin?" he said, in the deep voice of his wolf form.

"Did you make Nerine fall in love with you?" Rin was blunt and to the point.

The half-wolf smirked, "To be honest, I don't even know if she loves me. I suspect so, but that is one thing I never wanted to look at in her mind. It is sometimes better not to know people's true opinions of you, that is what I've found over the years. So I never read her feelings about me, or those of anyone else about me."

"Odd, you hardly seem to care about morals and that sort of thing normally."

Fenrir looked away, "Well maybe there is more human in me than you thought."

Rin sighed, "Anyway, it's only four days until this is over. Then will you explain what the world you're in is?"

"If I remember."

Rin raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean, 'if you remember?' You aren't going to mysteriously forget all this are you?"

"I honestly don't have a clue," Fenrir replied. "I might forget everything that happened to me for the last hundred years, but I might not. We'll just have to wait and see."

"What makes you think you might forget?"

Fenrir sighed, "You'll understand everything on Wednesday. Until then, I will probably be unable to contact you like this, and vice versa. I can still tranmit thoughts though, so if you really need something, think about it very hard."

"Wait, Fenrir!" but as Rin spoke, the room darkened, and Rin woke up back in Asa's bed. 'Damn him!' He looked to the clock: 6:57. 'Why do I always wake up too early to get up, but too late to go back to sleep. Somebody hates me."

* * *

Words of Wisdom: clubs3: Somebody always hate you.

* * *

Rin was sat opposite Asa at the breakfast table, slowly eating his way through the meal that Asa had made them.

"So Rin, as we only have two days left before we start work, how about we go out somewhere," Asa spoke up suddenly.

"Sure, where were you thinking of going?

"I dunno, just somewhere," Asa was as usual vague about the details.

"Well... how about we just go into town and see what there is to do? If you think of something specific then we can do it, okay?"

Asa nodded, "Okay, well come on then!" She got up and half-ran to the door.

Rin sighed, 'Why does she always have to be so damn energetic.' He stood and walked to the door. They put their shoes on and Asa pulled Rin out the door. Rin just let himself be dragged along, uncomplaining. He wanted to enjoy that day, without any insane half-wolves to put up with.

Rin's hopes were rather unfortunately unlike reality, as he would have known if he had noticed a certain group of young men following him, and if those men had noticed the form following them some distance behind.

* * *

"Why didn't I predict that this would turn into a shopping trip?" Rin asked exasperated.

"You know me Rin. And there's so much nice stuff in these shops."

Rin sighed, but continued to follow Asa without complaining further, carrying her bags. He knew that she would get bored soon enough, then they would be able to go somewhere for lunch.

Of course, plans never go the way you want them to. Just after he had started thinking about where to take Asa for lunch, a voice called to him, "RIN TSHUCHIMI." He looked around, and saw the AAA in all its glory, or rather lack of it. Rin opened his eyes wide, and was ready to run for it, realising that his former fan-girl assistance had elected to take a holiday together. With no way to defend himself, he was about to grab Asa so that they could run away, when a figure walked past him towards the crowd.

"Who are you?" The leader called to the newcomer, while Rin stared, wondering to himself 'Why did it have to be _him_ that saved me?'

"The question is," Fenrir spoke, "who are you?"

"We are the AAA, the agents of angelic Asa! And we demand that..."

"You demand WHAT?" Fenrir glared at them, showing them the most horrific images that he could, letting them fly out of his mind. "Stop harassing my employee! That's an order. If you have any questions, then you can ask them to the lords of the ninth hell. Trust me, an eternity in the lake of Cocytus* would be easy going compared to five minutes with me when I'm angry."

The leader of the AAA looked slightly fazed, but then glared back, "Threatening us are you? Well we won't stand for that. Come on let's get him!" The crowd ran at Fenrir.

The man turned to look at a petrified Rin and Asa. "You might want to turn away, this could get messy," he said before turning back to the mob.

Rin and Asa could not turn away, as Fenrir stepped forward, then swung his left leg round, knocking five of his attackers down in one go. The remaining AAA members were startled, and seemed to slow down. Some started screaming. Rin could only imagine the images they were being shown by Fenrir. Whatever they were, most of the AAA were scared enough to run away. The leader stood in front of Fenrir, staring at him in shock. "Wh-what are you?"

Fenrir walked up to him, throwing images at him that could drive a man insane. "What am I? I am something you could never equal. Remember always the name of the man who took your sanity." He grabbed the man by his t-shirt, raising him above his head. "I am Fenrir Urufu, 23rd generation ookami, and the last of my kind alive." He threw the man to the ground in front of him. "Never, ever try anything on my friends EVER again!"

The man ran away from Fenrir, who turned back to Rin and Asa. He walked towards them.

Asa was clinging on to Rin, "Rin, who is that?"

"He's my employer, but he didn't mention that he was such a good fighter."

"And what did he say about an 'ookami' or whatever it was?"

"It's complicated..." Rin said as Fenrir stopped in front of them.

"My apologies Rin, for making such a scene," Fenrir said calmly.

"Um... Mr. Urufu, er..."

Fenrir turned to look at Asa, "May I ask who this is?"

"Um, I'm Asa Shigure, Rin's girlfriend," Asa replied, terrified of the man.

"I'm Fenrir Urufu, it's a pleasure to meet you," Fenrir said, bowing slightly. Then turning to Rin he spoke to him, "Rin, could I ask that we find somewhere else to talk, there is something I need to talk to you about."

"Um... sure Mr. Urufu."

* * *

"So," Fenrir began when they had all sat down in a small cafe and ordered some drinks, "Let me first cover the obvious. Miss Shigure, have you ever heard of an ookami?"

"No, I can't say I have."

"Well, as I explained to Rin yesterday, an ookami is basically half-wolf half-man, with the ability to swap between the form of either. The original ookami were created from the shards of the soul of a great being, who is known to us only as Fenrisvulf. Since then, 22 further generations of my kind have been born, making myself of the 23rd generation. For many years there were very few of us. Up to this point, I have explained this to Rin, but now we move on to something else. As I said, there were few of us, but last year, the only ones other than myself died in an accident, including my parents. That leaves me as the last of my kind."

"Wait as second," Asa spoke up, "you expect me to believe that you can transform into a wolf? That's ridiculous, isn't it Rin?" She turned to Rin.

"Erm... well actually, he did show me and Nerine yesterday."

"WHAT?" Asa looked at Fenrir, "Y-you're kidding me right?"

Fenrir blinked, "You really don't believe your own words do you? I can see it, you're thoughts are written all over your face. And even if they weren't, I could still see them. I have never mentioned it, but another ability that I can manifest is the ability to read minds, and transmit my own thoughts onto another person."

'Yeah right!' Asa thought.

'Indeed I can,' Fenrir transmitted into her head.

"What the heck?" Asa stared at him, "You really can..."

"Are you scared or something? I suppose you deserve to be scared, especially after what you saw earlier. That brings me on to the reason I'm telling you all this: it's to warn you Rin, that what you saw earlier, was not really me."

"What do you mean?" Rin asked, for the first time really interested in the conversation, as he knew most of it beforehand.

"Whenever an ookami, or somebody close to an ookami is in danger, the ookami goes into a blind rage, which we call feral rage. It's a part of the original being that broke up awakening in us, and taking control of us. I must warn you Rin, that if that ever happens around you, you must NOT try to stop me, or you will get badly hurt. That fragment of Fenrisvulf makes an ookami deadly, I barely stopped myself from tearing out those men's throats, so trust me when I tell you to be careful."

Asa gripped Rin's hand, "What? You expect Rin to work in the office of a psycho? No thank you!"

Rin looked at his girlfriend, "It's okay Asa."

She looked at him incredulously, "Are you insane?"

"Maybe, but as long as I don't upset him I'll be fine, right Mr. Urufu?"

Fenrir nodded, "Just consider it a slight occupational hazard."

Asa looked between the men, dumbfounded. She would probably have objected again, but another voice called to them, "Rin! Asa! It's good to see you here."

The three at the table looked up to the speaker. It was Nerine, who had clearly been shopping, as she had a couple of bags in her hands.

"Hi Nerine," Rin and Asa both said.

"Miss Nerine, it is good to see you again," Fenrir said.

"Oh, Mr. Urufu, I hadn't seen you," Nerine replied, blushing slightly.

"I told you yesterday, please call me Fenrir."

"Of course... Fenrir." She said his name very quietly, and as she spoke, her blush intensified. Asa glanced at Rin when she noticed, and he nodded slightly. Asa then smirked a little, knowing that this could become very interesting.

* * *

Words of Wisdom: clubs4: Conversely, someone always loves you.

* * *

"I can't believe that Nerine would fall for somebody like that!" Asa said, laughing, as she and Rin walked home together. They had left Fenrir and Nerine together, the former insisting that he help Nerine carry her shopping home. "Well if they do get together then that's everybody paired up with somebody else."

"Indeed," was all Rin said. He was currently very worried. He knew that there was a good chance that in a few days time Fenrir's character would completely change, when the old and new versions of him swapped over. He was worried how it would affect Nerine if he suddenly changed.

"I still can't really believe everything he said, I think he's probably just a god or demon disguising his ears, or maybe a three-quarter blood, then he'd still be able to do that magic."

"Maybe..." Rin knew perfectly well that everything Fenrir had said was true. It was perfectly understandable that Asa did not believe it though: who would without proof of some sort.

"Well we're home," Asa said as they reached Ama's house. They went inside and Rin put the bags down.

Asa ran off to the bathroom, and Rin colapsed in a chair, exhausted from the difficult day, he was just about ready to fall asleep, even though it was only about 3 o'clock. He heard the phone ring, and dragged himself up to answer it, "Hello."

_"Hello, is that Rin, it's Forbeseii."_

"Oh, hi."

_"I'm calling because I was wondering about something that just happened. Nerine came home with a young man assisting her with carrying some shopping. When she had thanked him she... 'ahem'... kissed him on the cheek. When I asked her about him she said he was a friend of yours who you introduced to her. Can I ask you for some more detail about him?"_

Rin sighed, "It's a long story."

* * *

Fenrir smiled as he watched Nerine stand on tiptoes to give his old self the kiss on the cheek through his watch. Her lips had been so very soft, and he still remembered just how it had felt. Okay, so he had partly lied to Rin earlier: he was about 99% certain about Nerine's feelings for him. He looked down at his cards. He only had to win about three more rounds and he would win the whole match. It should not take long.

He glanced across at Ask. He was still worried about one thing: that human was somehow preventing Fenrir from reading his mind, and Fenrir was worried by that. Not so much by the possibility of him losing, but more by the possibility of something more complicated going on.

Fenrir kept playing, while thinking through every detail of the game so far, and of his last hundred years of confinement. Nothing struck him as an obvious reason behind the problem. But he knew that it would reveal itself soon enough. And when it did, Fenrir would be ready for it.

* * *

*The lake of Cocytus is a frozen lake in which the devil is supposedly trapped, that exists in the lowest depths of the nineth hell.

A/N: Please review. That's about it really.

Bis Bald

BW


	8. Game and Rubber

A Bad Hand, Ch8: Game and Rubber

_"So you're telling me that my daughter is in love with a wolf?"_

"Not exactly, but that'll cover it for the moment," Rin replied to Forbeseii, after having explained about Fenrir. He had, however, decided to avoid discussing the other Fenrir. Bringing in the time-travel mess would just make Forbeseii more worried about his daughter, and Rin did not want to upset the king of the ddemons by telling him his daughter was in love with somebody 125 years old. Even if it turned out that Nerine liked older men, that would be a bit of a put-out.

_"Well, I'll have to meet this man before I say anything further, just as long as he doesn't do anything to hurt Nerine I'll be fine with it though."_

"The thing is, I'm not 100% sure if he is interested in Nerine. I think he is, but I can't say for sure."

_"Well if I ever get the chance to speak with him, I will found out for myself."_

'Good luck with finding out anything about him that he doesn't want known,' Rin thought to himself.

* * *

Words of wisdom, diamonds3: lies are what hide the truth behind people.

* * *

Fenrir was bored. This was of course a normal state of affairs for him. It had been quite a while since he had not been bored. He looked through at watch to see Nerine. She was lying on her bed, with a light blush on her face. She had the fingers of her left hand touching her lips. She seemed a bit out of it after giving Fenrir that kiss. The rational part of Fenrir's brain knew that she was over-reacting to the whole thing, but the emotional part of his brain thought that it was sweet of her to be so flustered.

He smiled behind his mask, before returning his full attention to the game.

He returned abruptly to boredom.

* * *

Rin lay on the verge of sleep again that night. Asa was lying next to him, head lain on his chest. He felt like this was getting more and more common, this same state of restlessness. But this time, he was not fading into the world of his and Fenrir's consciousnesses. Fenrir had said that they probably would be unable to contact each other. Why that would be the case, Rin did not understand. He was thinking through everything that Fenrir, older and younger, had told him. Then something occured to him. Some things that the younger Fenrir had said did not add up.

_"...last year, the only ones other than myself died in an accident, including my parents. That leaves me as the last of my kind..."_

_"...known to _us _only as Fenrisvulf..."_

_"...which _we_ call feral rage..."_

Fenrir had said he was the last of his kind, but always said 'we' or 'us' as if there were more than one. Assuming that he was telling the truth, then there was the possibility that there was somebody else who knew about Fenrir, but then there was something else he had said:

_"...you are the first people I have told the truth to ever..."_

Therefore, if somebody else was involved, then they would have to have already known about the ookami. There was only one other person that Rin knew of who knew about the ookami, but that hardly made sense. Unless this was even more complicated than he had thought.

'You know, you are very good Rin. I had never expected that you would work it out.' A voice resounded in Rin's head, before everything went black. As it had often before, light appeared around him, illuminating him and the older Fenrir, unmasked.

"I thought you wouldn't be able to communicate with me like this again," Rin said.

"As you worked so much out, I needed to tell you the rest. I'll admit that I haven't told you the whole truth about our situation, and I need to set that right."

"Why should I trust you though, if you've concealed so much up 'til now?"

"As always, you'll just have to."

Rin was not particularly happy, but let it pass. "So, you and your past self know each other?"

"Almost. The other me has no idea of who I really am. He has never seen my mask off either, and does not know my race. He has not even an inkling that we are the same person. I know he doesn't, I remember it."

"It would have been much easier if you told me to start with about this."

"Would it? How does it help you now? I know for a fact that it doesn't."

Rin hated the fact that Fenrir knew absolutely everything, or it seemed that way at least. "Why won't it help me?"

"Because 'spoilers' for you future. You should understand by... Monday I'll wager. But for now, you can't know that."

"I hate you, I hope you know that, I hardly know why I'm helping you."

"One word: Nerine."

Rin bit his lip, of course Fenrir knew that the main reason Rin was still willing to help Fenrir was because if he did not then Nerine would lose the man she loved. Rin wanted all his friends to be happy, that was why he was doing this.

Fenrir smirked as much as his wolf-lips enabled him. "Even if it weren't for that, I could easily force you to do anything I wanted. Don't think that this is too neat and tidy for normality, I hardly put any effort into making this result."

"You really are heartless."

"For the moment, maybe so," Fenrir threw back his head and half-laughed half-howled. Rin stared at him, wondering just how sane the half-wolf was. The light dimmed, but the laughter did not. Not until Rin's eyes flew wide open did it stop. Even then, it echoed in his ears, and Rin believed what the half-wolf had said, that he could force Rin, or anybody, to do whatever he desired.

* * *

Asa was worried. Rin did not seem like himself at all. He had been acting oddly all morning. It was now lunch time, and he had a distant look in his eyes, and was hardly paying any attention to anything. Asa eventually got fed up of the silence and spoke to him, "Rin, is something the matter? You've been acting oddly all day. Is this because of yesterday?"

Rin looked up at Asa, but as he was about to say something to quiet Asa's fears, he heard that laugh again. It had been tormenting him all morning. He bit his lip to stop himself crying out. He finally managed to say, "It's nothing, don't worry."

Of course, all that did was worry Asa more. She looked into his eyes, trying to work out what he was thinking. 'This would all be much easier if I could read his mind like Fenrir. Then again, it's probably his fault that Rin's like this now.'

* * *

Words of wisdom, diamonds4: the truth is what hurts most about people.

* * *

Fenrir almost laughed again mid-game at just how right Asa was. He looked down at his last card. A smirk appeared on his face. The others had put down each of their cards. Each of the other queens were already on the table, and Fenrir was playing the round, with spades as trumps. This would be the last round, when Fenrir played his last card, this would be over. He looked over to Ask.

"Something wrong Fenrir? Can't win or something."

"It's something else, just a trace of the inevitable. And before this is over, I just want to say one thing to you all."

"What is it?" Wodin and Loki asked at the same time.

"Goodbye," Fenrir played his last card, and as the image of Asa fell to the table, beside the joker with Rin's picture, Fenrir glowed.

'Finally, free from purgatory.'

Fenrir stood as the light intensified. It glowed a deep blue, before Fenrir disappeared.

'Now let me see who is behind this purgatory.' Fenrir became conscious of his new surroundings, and advanced. He was in a bright hallway, made of stone, with a soft black carpet beneath his feet. There were diamond-shaped windows in the walls, which was where the light came from. There was relatively little other than that in the hallway.

Fenrir walked down the hallway, his gaze straight ahead, searching with his mind for anybody. He then felt a mental block, and then his mask broke from his face. Surprised, he tried to reconstruct the mask. Try as he might, every time he brought it together, it would break again.

"You don't need to wear that mask here. I have known your face for a very long time."

Fenrir looked for the source of the voice. He saw a man standing at the end of the hallway. "Who are you?"

"I am Fenrisvulf."

* * *

Bis Bald

BW


	9. Last Hand

Nearly there guys, just this chapter, then one more and an epilogue.

Note: When Rin refers to Fenrir as 'Fenrir' he will mostly mean the older one, while 'Mr. Urufu' means the younger one.

Here we go...

A Bad Hand, Ch9: Last Hand

Rin entered the office for work, pondering various things. Why had Fenrir not told him everything he could from the start? It just made no sense. Then again Fenrir never made sense.

As he entered, Rin noticed the god secretary look up. "Mr. Tshuchimi, Mr. Urufu is not here today I'm afraid, so he asked me to give you your work details."

"Not here? Where is he?"

"I'm not sure, he phoned me yesterday to tell me he would be away until Wednesday lunchtime."

'So that's why knowing that the two Fenrirs know of each other is useless information. I'll probably only see Mr. Urufu again on Wednesday.' Rin let himself be directed by the secretary, and was sent up to the fourth floor, to be ordered around by one of Mr. Urufu's underlings. The day was not particularly exciting, and most of the staff there were not very interested in Rin.

Oddly enough, it turned out that Rin had been put straight into one of the better jobs in the company, and maybe that was why the other employees hardly talked to him, as they probably were not very happy that a guy fresh from college was immediately put in the same job as they had spent months or years working towards.

Eventually, Rin realised that it was time to leave. He took the lift down, then as he left, he heard the secretary call to him. "Mr. Tshuchimi, Mr. Urufu called to ask me to check how you like your work."

Rin turned to her, "It's good enough, and for the amount I'm paid I certainly can't complain." Rin's salary was not massive, but it was more than he could have hoped for by some way.

The secretary nodded, "Okay, thanks, I'll let Mr. Urufu know you're happy with it. He does always worry about his employees, he's a good boss, but him seems more so about you. I think he likes you personally."

"Maybe, anyway I'll see you tomorrow Miss..." Rin then realised that the secretary had never told him her name.

"Shiru, Sakura Shiru."

"Well, goodbye Miss Shiru." Rin left, and he started to walk back towards home. 'Does Mr. Urufu really like me that much? Fenrir doesn't seem to, then again he never really shows emotion.'

* * *

Fenrir looked at the person before him. 'Person' was stretching the word a bit. The on standing in front of him was like him: human up to the neck line, but with the head of a wolf. Very like him in fact.

Fenrir spoke, "You claim to be Fenrisvulf... but that is impossible."

The other smirked, "Not quite impossible, although you are right, I am not quite him. Yet."

Fenrir put two and two together, and got... "Your head, it's that of your wolf form, while the rest of you is the body of Fenrisvulf. You've gathered the shards of his soul into yourself, using the fractured parts to increase your own power, and are using his body to contain that power, as a normal body would be fried by that amount of power, but the body is still incomplete, so you had to use your wolf head."

"Very good, very very good. Now have you worked out the rest?"

Fenrir thought, "I have the remaining piece you need, as the last ookami, I am all that is left of the true Fenrisvulf that you have not already absorbed. The hundred year purgatory you will put the younger me through was to age my soul, weakening it to make it easier for you to remove the shard in tact."

The other sighed, "You are very good Urufu. Too good really."

Fenrir smirked, "Well I have completed the hundred years, now it's almost time for you to let me out."

The other smirked, "But what if I don't let you? You can't kill me until I send you back in time."

Fenrir was the one to smirk this time, "There is something you don't know, which means that I will certainly kill you."

The other looked at him oddly, "What are you talking about?"

"Look at me, then at yourself."

The other did as told, then realised, "Th-that's my body!"

"Precisely, so if I kill you, then think what I can do..."

The other opened his eyes wide, "You mean..."

"Sh~! Spoilers," Fenrir said.

"But if you do what I think you're going to, then..."

"Then I die too. Yes, but better that than somebody like you lives with _his_ powers."

Fenrir spoke no more, but ran straight at the other ookami.

* * *

Words of wisdom, hearts3: The best planer is always three steps ahead of himself.

* * *

Rin sat back in his chair, feeling completely stuffed. He had just finished the, as normal, delicious dinner that Asa had cooked. His girlfriend smiled at him, "Did you like it?"

"Silly question Asa, of course I did."

Asa smiled, then got up to clean up. Rin got up too to help. "So," he began as he washed the plates, "How was your day?"

"Not bad, although there were a couple of guys trying to hit on me. I hate it when they do that. The only guy who's allowed to sweet-talk to me is you, and then only on special occasions," Asa replied while drying a plate and reaching it up to the cupboard.

Rin laughed a little, "Well as long as they don't cause trouble for you, but if anybody does... you can probably deal with them better than I can knowing you."

"Hm... maybe, but using the 'boyfriend' excuse is a good way of getting away from them sometimes. But anyways, how was your day?"

"It was pretty boring, but you won't believe what Mr. Urufu did. Instead of the job he said in the advert he'd give me, he gave me one paying about twice as much. Pretty good I suppose, apart from the jealous colleagues."

"Well if they give you trouble, you can tell them that if they don't stop, then your girlfriend will come and deal with them." Rin laughed a little, partly at what she said, and partly at the image in his mind of Asa beating up all the men at his office. The thing was, she might actually do that.

When his laughter had died down, he added, "Actually, he wasn't there today though."

"Well that's good if anything, I don't really like that crazy wolf-man. I can't think what Nerine sees in him."

"It's probably because when they first met, he saved me and her from her fan-club."

Asa looked surprised, "Really? You didn't mention that to me. I suppose that could explain it. Also he is quite handsome. Hm..."

Rin's face fell as he heard her praising Mr. Urufu. Asa noticed it and gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry, but you know that I love you more than anybody, right Rin?"

Rin sighed, "Yeah, I know that Asa, and I love you too."

"That's good, seems I have you fully house trained Rin!"

Rin gave a deep sigh, before replying, "Speaking of houses, what're we gonna do about finding our own place, I mean we both have jobs now, so we should be able to get a flat, as long as it's not too expensive."

"Well maybe we should have a look around some at the weekend."

'The weekend... by then everything should have calmed down and the insanity should be over.' Rin smiled and replied, "Sure, I'll have a look in the papers for anything promising."

They kept chatting about various things, but while Asa was happily talking to her boyfriend, Rin was a bit more subdued than normal.

Rin just kept thinking of one thing, 'I can't wait 'til Thursday, let alone the weekend.'

* * *

Fenrir breathed deeply, as he absorbed the fallen body into his own. Now the insanity was almost at it's end. But for these hundred years, he had held on to the hope of living again with Nerine. Now he doubted he would. He kept walking down the hall where he had fought the one who wanted to be the ookami's god-figure. Eventually he saw a blank wall in front of him. He put out his right hand to touch the wall, and a strange glowing circle, with an intricate desine inside it, appeared on the wall. The circle glowed brighter and the wall broke apart.

Fenrir stepped out of the hole, as it sealed itself behind him, and saw the person he knew he would. It had happened 100 years ago, but he had been on the other end.

The one he saw, was himself.

* * *

Words of wisdom, hearts4: An even better planner seems to be three steps behind himself

* * *

Rin sighed as he walked home. It was the Wednesday when all hell was supposed to break loose, but nothing much had happened. Mr. Urufu was absent from work again though, as Rin had half-expected.

Rin turned into the road with Ama's house, and saw two men facing each other. On one side stood Mr. Urufu, on the other stood Fenrir. They were facing each other across the driveway of the house, both standing on the pavement.

Then Rin heard the younger of them speak, "So why did you call me here?"

The older replied, "So that I can complete what I started, no, what _we_ started."

"What do you mean?" the younger asked.

"I mean this," Fenrir leaped at his younger self, grabbing him with his right hand. On the ground at Urufu's feet, a circle glowed. Urufu quickly forced Fenrir off and jumped back away from him.

Rin watched in horror, if he had guessed correctly, then the one who had sent Fenrir back in time... was Fenrir himself.

"What the hell are you doing?" he shouted at the older Fenrir.

Fenrir let his eyes flit from his younger self to Rin very briefly. "I'm doing what I must." He then concentrated on his younger self again, staring at him with a look of contempt.

Rin could not move. He knew that whatever he did, this would only end with Mr. Urufu being sent back by Fenrir. He simply watched as Fenrir leaped forward again, reaching out with his hand...

But as Fenrir put his hand on his younger self's shoulder, no circle appeared, instead, Fenrir used his hold to flip himself over his other self, and landed next to another figure, who neither Rin nor the younger Fenrir had noticed. When Rin saw who it was, he gasped.

Asa had just reached the end of the road, and had come upon the scene, and Fenrir now stood mere feet from her. Asa did the only natural thing to do when a monstrous half-wolf lands in front of you: she screamed.

Fenrir grabbed her by the chin, forcing her mouth shut. Then a circle appeared under her feet, as one had under the younger Fenrir's.

Rin never knew exactly what he did next. There are some actions humans do naturally without thinking: reflex actions, such as moving your hand away from a flame to stop you burning yourself. Similarly, when Rin saw Asa at risk, he automatically acted to protect her. How he got her out of Fenrir's grip, her was never sure, but he did. Moments later, he and Asa were on the ground, with her in his arms, while Fenrir (older) stood some way away, facing the other him.

The younger ookami now seemed enraged, "I won't let you hurt my friends, you BASTARD!" He leaped at his older self. The older ducked down, and put his right hand on the ground. A circle appeared in front of where he touched, growing an intricate design: a line divided the circle in two, with three thin lines coming down towards the older Fenrir, and on the other side of the line was a smaller circle, with an hourglass contained in it, the points just touching the edges of the smaller circle. The circle glowed a deep purple, then the ground rose up in a pillar where the circle was, hitting the younger Fenrir, before returning.

The ookami was thrown some way, and his older self was on him in a instant, his hand pressed to his younger self's forehead. A circle like the one Fenrir had just created appeared under them. The younger Fenrir stared at the older, "Who are you?"

"I am... Fenrisvulf," was all the older Fenrir said.

The circle shone a bright purple, rising up around the two of them. Rin had got to his feet, but could only watch as the older Fenrir's body faded into a group of blue lights, which floated into his younger body. Then the light from he circle died away, and left the younger Fenrir's body lying on the ground. Rin ran over to him, kneeling by him, "Mr. Urufu are you okay?"

The last thing Rin had expected was for Fenrir's eyes to suddenly open wide. He sat up, and looked straight at Rin, "I'm back in my own body... but it hurts so much..." Fenrir then threw back his head and howled, just like a wolf would. Then everything froze, except for Fenrir and the human in front of him, even Asa went stiff, and everything apart from the ookami and the human went grey. Fenrir looke at Rin again.

"What's wrong? You got your body back, it should be fine."

"No... I took in all the parts of Fenrisvulf. There was a person who wanted to become Fenrisvulf, so he gathered all the shards of him together, except for the one within me. But while in that place, I took them from him. Now they are all in me, in this body. There is too much magic in me now... my body can't take it, it's the same as Asa was when she almost died, but there's just so much magic... I can't get it out of my body, whatever I do." Fenrir started breathing heavily.

"You knew this would happen, so why...?"

"Because otherwise, Fenrisvulf would have been reborn in another, somebody who could be dangerous."

Then Fenrir threw his head back again, and howled again, and Rin saw that some of his hair was glowing, and breaking apart. Fenrir's body was tearing itself apart, slowly destroying itself.

The ookami was dying.

* * *

Bis Bald

BW


	10. Over Trumped

A/N: Finally here. This story grew to very different from what I originally planned, but hey, it's not too bad. I'm just going to give a few thanks here. First to my reviewers, especially Negative-Z for repeat reviewing. Second, to everybody who's read this, for putting up with my random story. Third to the people who made Shuffle! for creating the basis for this. Now here we go...

A Bad Hand, Ch10: Over Trumped

Fenrir howled again, in massive pain, as his body started to tear itself apart. Light extended from his body, in the form of tendrils, smashing the ground around them, breaking the even road apart. Then the tendrils reformed into two massive wings, which, seemingly of their own accord, started flapping, lifting Fenrir into the air.

Rin could not think of anything to do to stop him from dying. He thought of everything that Fenrir had told him up to now. Then something struck him.

"Fenrir, what happened to your other body?" He shouted up.

"It's inside me, contained in magic form."

"Fenrir, bring it put, and put the shards into it."

Fenrir stared at him. "Tshuchimi, if this works, you are the greatest genius ever, if not, then I'm screwed."

Fenrir closed his eyes, and started motioning with his hands, drawing the same circle as before in the air in front of him. As the full circle was finished, it glowed, this time in blue, and from Fenrir's body came blue lights, which passed through the circle, forming an new body. But unlike what Rin had expected, this body looked completely human, without the wolf's head. Rin could not see the distinct features of the face, but he could tell it was fully human.

After the new body formed, Fenrir's new wings bent round, as if drawn towards the new form. The wings touched, and began to be absorbed into the new body. Gradually the wings faded, as they were completely absorbed by the new body. Once they had disappeared, new, golden wings sprouted from the new body, as Fenrir slowly floated back to the ground.

Fenrir stood looking up at the other person. "So this was why everything happened. You wanted to live again, Fenrisvulf."

The winged being looked down at them, his face hidden by a shadow, "Why do you call me that? I suppose my real name is lost to everybody now. But you are right, for millenia now, I have been waiting to live once more. That is why, when enough of my shards came together for my consciousness to surface, I made this happen. I am now complete, although while weakened, I had to suffer a defeat, or seem to at least. You know by now the one you took your powers from was me in an incomplete form I assume."

Rin looked between the two, wondering something in the back of his head, "But if Fenrir is a shard of you Fenrisvulf, then how come he's still alive?"

Fenrisvulf looked down at Rin, "He has separated the shard from the soul it created around itself. He himself is not a part of me. And his soul is what contains his powers, so he is now completely free of me. But now, I must leave, although first I must clear up this time-freeze, and also, I'm afraid your memories of everything connected to me must be erased. That includes your memories of the hundred years of what you called 'purgatory' Urufu."

"Why do you address him like that?" Rin asked.

"Because of who I was in my old life." Fenrisvulf then put out his arm, and a katana appeared. Fenrisvulf smiled at it, "So you're back together again too. My good old sword." He then looked down at the two on the ground, "Now it's goodbye, Tscuchimi, Urufu." The blade he carried glowed, and the last thing Rin saw was a purple flash.

* * *

Words of wisdom, spades3: Names are often hard to come by.

* * *

"Rin!" Rin heard Asa's voice calling to him through the darkness. He opened his eyes. he was lying in the street outside Ama's house, with Asa leaning over him. "Rin, you're okay!"

"Asa, what happened?"

"I dunno, there was some kind of an explosion, maybe a gas mains."

Rin sat up, looking over to where there was a large hole in the street, just in front of Ama's house. He saw another person on the ground by the hole, it was Mr. Urufu, and Ama was knelt next to her. "Wh-what's he doing here?"

"I dunno. I'm glad you're not hurt though."

"Well I'm glad too, I just hope he's okay."

* * *

Words of wisdom, spades4: "Half god, half wolf, all tree. What is my name?" asks Fenrisvulf.

* * *

It was the next day, and Rin and Asa were walking to the hospital. When they had gone there after the incident the day before, Rin had been quickly dismissed, but Mr. Urufu had still been unconscious. They were going back to check on him. When they reached the hospital, they went through to the room they had been to the day before, noting that Forbeseii was sat outside. He looked up at the couple as they arrived.

Rin spoke first, "How is he?"

"He woke up not long ago, Nerine is still with him. He seems to be just the right person for her from what I've seen, and she does care about her a lot," the demon king replied.

"That's good," Rin replied as he and Asa went to the door. He was about to open it when Asa stopped him, and pointed through the glass panel set into the door.

When Rin looked he saw why Asa had stopped him, and turned back. Forbeseii turned his head to them inquisitively. "Let me guess, my daughter and Mr. Urufu are..."

"Kissing," the three of them said together.

* * *

A/N: The end, or is it? Stay tuned for the epilogue.

Also, the first person who can solve the riddle in the last 'Words of wisdom,' I will take a request from for a oneshot if you want it. For full details of what rules I have about requests, see my profile.

Bis Bald

BW


	11. Epilogue: Another Round?

And at last, this story draws to a close. In some ways, it's sad, in others, it's a relief. I can tuck this story away and get to work on some of my other six that I'm working on. So, here we go:

A Bad Hand, Epilogue: Another Round?

Rin straightened his tie, prepared to go to work as normal. It was a Friday, and today he had to speak to a new client, so he needed to look his best. He was about to go out the door, when a voice called to him, "Rin, you going now?"

Rin turned to see Asa standing behind him. She was smiling at him, and went up to him putting her hands up to fiddle with his collar. "Honestly Rin, you always look so scruffy. Can't you at least try to look half-decent when you're going to meet a client?"

Rin sighed, but did not comment as his wife sorted his collar. Yes, you read correctly, 'wife.' They had married three years after leaving college. It had been another four years since then. After they had found jobs, they had moved into the house they now lived in, just about halfway between Ama's house and the houses of the Kings and Kaede.

Asa finished tidying him up, then stood back a little to look over him, "Hm... Well that's the best I can do."

Rin sighed again, "Well then, I'd best be off."

Asa leaned close and gave him a peck on the cheek, "See you later, have a good day."

Rin once again turned to leave, when a new voice called to him, "Daddy, have a nice day." Rin looked back to see their two and a half year old son standing behind his mother. The little boy had inherited much of his appearance from his mother, with the same hair and eye colour, although he had his hair in a similar shape to his father's, if a little shorter.

He knelt down and opened his arms, as the boy toddled up to him. He gave him a hug and smiled at him, "See you later Risago."

"Bye Daddy."

Rin gave his son a pat on the head, then let him go and stood up, "I really need to go now. See you two at lunch."

Rin left the house, walking towards his office. It had been seven years since he started working there, and now he was second in charge after Fenrir, which in actuality meant that he was the one who ended up doing all the work that Fenrir could not be bothered to do himself, but it was a good job, although he did occasionally end up listening to Fenrir go on about how wonderful a wife Nerine was.

Fenrir was seriously obsessed with the demon princess, and would often be caught by Rin phoning home in the middle of work just to talk to her. Then again, Fenrir usually had the excuse that he had nothing else to do, as he seemed capable of completing the work of a small department in the same time-frame.

Rin turned the corner, and walked up to the office, entering as normal. Miss Shiru smiled at him as he entered, and he smiled back at her, before taking the lift up to the third floor, where he was to meet with the client.

* * *

Words of wisdom, Joker: Wisest is he that knows he does not know.

* * *

Asa walked down the street slowly, carrying her son. She was going to meet Rin, Fenrir, Nerine, Primula, Sia and Kaede for lunch at the restaurant that she and Kareha had once waitressed in. It had been a while since they had all got together, and it was good to meet up with everybody every now and then. As she reached the restaurant, she saw Kaede, Sia, Primula and Nerine chatting outside. Nerine was holding her daughter, and Kaede was carrying the girl who, through some bizzare method involving a combination of magic and human technology, she was able to have with Sia.

When she saw them, Sia turned and spoke to Asa and her son, "Hey Asa, how're you and Risago?"

"We're good, how about you?"

"Kaede and I have been fine, although Tsute is a bit of a handful at times." The girl in question was begging her mother (Kaede) to be put down while her 'father' (Sia) kept talking to Asa.

Kaede put Tsute down, and the girl toddled over to Asa and Risago, "Rigo-kun, Rigo-kun."

Asa put her son down next to the girl, and Nerine put her daughter, Rupi, down too. The three children started talking in rather broken Japanese, while the adults smiled at them. Then they all looked up as they heard somebody calling them, "Guys! Sorry we're late." They all looked up to see Rin running up to them, with Fenrir in wolf form running slightly ahead of him. The wolf leaped up, landing on his hind feet next to Nerine, then turning back into his human form.

Nerine sighed at her husband, "Fen, how many times do I have to tell you not to transform in public?"

Fenrir, still breathing a little fast replied "At least once more I think." Nerine sighed again, before Fenrir kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry, but there was a slight emergency, so I sent Rin ahead and quickly dealt with it, the only way to get here in time was to transform."

Rin by this point had reached the group, panting a lot more evidently than Fenrir. Asa went over to him, "If he gave you a head-start even, how did you arrive after him?"

"Have... *pant* you ever... *pant* tried to run against him as a wolf?" Rin somehow managed to get out.

"Hm... no, maybe I should try it some time."

"Seriously don't," Nerine interjected, "Trying to catch Rupi is near impossible when she transforms. As for her father..." Nerine shook her head.

"Hey, it's good if she gets used to her skills young," Fenrir pointed out, "I did."

"And where did that get you? A publishing company manager?" Nerine replied.

"One with a beautiful princess as his wife, yes."

Nerine blushed slightly at the compliment. Sia took the lull in the argument as an opportunity to speak, "Guys, how about we go in now?"

They all got inside, and were directed to a large table, which they all sat around. The three children sat together, and the two girls sat either side of Risago, constantly competing for his attention. Fenrir laughed at their antics, "He's already got all the girls after him, like father like son I suppose."

Rin did not reply, there was something about Fenrir's laugh that brought back a memory. The mix of a laugh with a wolf's howling. He shuddered slightly. He could not remember when he had heard it, but then flashes of other things flew through his head. A dark room with for men playing cards, a man with a wolf mask, which shattered to reveal a wolf head, the same man fighting Fenrir, a strange circle with a design in it, and then a man, with great golden wings and a glowing purple sword. Then three words sounded through his head 'My name is...'

Rin blinked, then shook himself slightly, returning to the present. Nobody seemed to have noticed anything wrong with him, except Fenrir who was sat opposite him. Fenrir let out a thought stream, offering Rin to let him know what was wrong, and Rin looked him in the eye, but then all the memories vanished. He merely sent back the thought 'Nothing.'

Although, it did seem to Rin as though the memories might just be important.

* * *

Words of wisdom, Joker2: Even wiser, is god.

* * *

A golden winged angel watched the group in the restaurant. He looked away from his watch, through which he had watched the group. He'd had enough of playing around with these mortals. He only kept tabs on them in case one of them remembered something they were not supposed to, as had almost just happened. Other than that, he had decided to stop pulling strings like that. He had destroyed purgatory, the world Fenrir had been trapped in, and returned those there to their own time.

He turned his gaze to a symbol on the floor: a circle much like the one Fenrir had used. The angel stepped in front of it, then raised his hand, creating a sword. On the hilt were the letters 'F.D.' He placed the sword on the symbol, so that it lay on the thick central line. Then he smirked, though none were there to see it. And none were there to hear his words, "I have no use for that name any more. My name is..." His last words were drowned out, as the circle glowed, making a ringing noise, and as it glowed, the letters on the sword hilt changed from 'F.D.' to 'O.Y.'

The angel picked up the sword as the light died down. "Now all the strings are cut. Live as you wish, children of the wolves, and you too Tshuchimi, I've meddled enough."

* * *

Rin was walking home now. He and Fenrir had ended up returning late, so they had to work late as well. Of course, Fenrir being Fenrir had finished early, and had left before they were technically supposed to. Of course, he was in charge, so he could do that. Rin turned up the path to his house, and opened the door, calling into the house "I'm home!"

Asa came out of the kitchen, "Good timing, dinner's just about ready."

"Thanks, I'll be there in a sec." Rin went up to his room to quickly change into something more comfortable. He was trying to remember the things he had in the restaurant again, but every time he thought he remembered something, it would escape him.

He pulled on a t-shirt and some casual trousers, before he headed back down to eat. When he reached the kitchen, he saw Asa trying to get Risago to sit still and eat. He realised then, it did not matter if he had forgotten whatever it was. As long as he was happily together with his wife and son, that did not matter. Hell, it would not matter if some angel were behind the mess that was his teenage life, which was fortunately over. If they had done it, he would probably thank them for how everything turned out.

He was happy, and he thought as he sat down to eat the delicious dinner his wife had made, watching her finally get Risago to eat his meal, Rin thought that maybe, just maybe, life had not given him such a bad hand as he once thought.

* * *

_A Bad Hand: Fin_

Here it ends. Thanks for reading.

Auf Wiedersehen

BW

PS: There is now a sequal to this story, Re:Shuffle! If you liked this, you may like it too.


End file.
